MANTI-- In a surprise move, the Sanpete County Commissioners voted against a moratorium on youth homes during the Aug. 19 commission meeting. The commissioners were prepared to pass a temporary ordinance prohibiting the construction or alteration of any building for youth homes or residential facilities for persons with a disability. Commissioner Claudia Jarrett announced to a group of citizens at the meeting that County Attorney Ross Blackham had strongly advised against it.

Blackham said the county Youth Home and Residential Disability Ordinance is 'weak'2 and recommended changes be made 'as fast as possible.' He told the commission to move ahead with a new revamped ordinance.

Commissioner Jarrett allowed discussion from anyone attending the meeting. Comments were positive for rewriting the ordinance from those in attendance who were willing to lend whatever help they could.

Doyce Coates said the county has 'enough' youth homes. He said Sanpete County has a small population but a large percentage of youth homes. Candice Sanders said Mt. Pleasant has had four more requests for youth homes.

The commission discussed whether to form a committee but Attorney Blackham said it would slow down the process. He said he would be happy to work with any group but he wanted to be able to control the retrofit of the ordinance for speed.

The commissioners voted to give Blackham the freedom to work on the ordinance and to work with anyone including the planning board.

Honeywell retrofit

The commissioners approved Honeywell=B9s contract to perform a retrofit on the Sanpete County Courthouse heating and air conditioning system. Commissioner Mark Anderson said the company completed their inspection of the system and said the system was good but the controls for it were not.

He said it would take six or seven weeks to do the installation at a cost of $67,795. The county could make quarterly payments of $7,129. For $12,000 a year for five years, the company would make preventive mechanical service and would train county personnel to keep the system running.

Commissioner Anderson said the system has been a nightmare for years.

Commissioner Dwight Inouye added the South Sanpete School District was happy with Honeywell's maintenance on their system. The commission voted to proceed and signed the contract.

Oil company land lease

Dennis Ludington, representing Petro Hunt, presented the commission with another oil and gas lease, offering $80 per acre, per year for three years and two, one-year pickup options. Ludington said it was small pieces of land previously missed south of Manti.

The commission voted to accept the lease pending Attorney Blackham's check to make sure the land was not listed on another lease and his review of the lease agreement.

Ludington also asked the commission to clarify what needs to be done on a damaged road. He said his company would do repairs and there was no need to go against the bond.

He said he has tried unsuccessfully to reach Steve Keller for the details. The commissioners said they would talk to Keller and let him know.

Miscellaneous

Ron Kelsch requested electronic access to county records. He said he just needed the physical address of residents only for a web site that confirms whether an address exists. He said he didn't need names or other details. He said it was for security for local people and businesses in the small counties.

Attorney Blackham told him it was only available in paper form and Kelsch said it was unacceptable to him. Commissioner Anderson said he would talk to the county's computer person to see what could be done and Commissioner Inouye directed it be tabled for the next meeting.

The commissioners approved the Utah Department Of Transportation (UDOT) cooperative agreement for the Pigeon Hollow road project. Eric Wall, project manager for UDOT, said the agreement basically states UDOT will do the project and the county would be 100 percent responsible for any overrun. The commission agreed.

Brian Barton of Jones and Demille, said cost of materials has risen 20 percent from last year and the Pigeon Hollow road project would probably be advertised this winter.

Commissioners approved an additional $4,000 funding for the Sanpete County Fair. Commissioner Anderson said the money would be used for awards. He said the fair budget would soon be under county control.

They also gave their approval for the annual request for the Agriculture Field Day for all third graders to be held Wednesday, Sept. 3. No fee is charged to this group for use of the fairgrounds.

Sanpete County Sheriff Kevin Holman was approved to give a pay increase to Officer Justin Aagard. He goes to $17.79 an hour. The commission approved $10,000 for Sanpete County's part in officer training to be held in Gunnison.

The cost includes attendance by any number of officers. They approved $1,744.93 for vehicle lighting and camera repairs and permission to spend $65,000 Homeland Security grant money.

The commissioners also discussed the possibility of changing the mass gathering permit with Sheriff Holman. They asked him if there was a big drug problem at a recent concert. Holman said it was not a big problem.

He said there is always a fringe portion of any group that will break the law. He said they dealt with it, but he did agree that some revision of the mass gathering permit would be helpful. He recommended the permit request be made more than two weeks from the event. He said if it were under two weeks, he would deny it.

Kevin Christensen was approved to spend $4,000 for a professional photography shoot of Sanpete County for the Economic Development Department.

He said he received a grant for $2,000 to use for a photo professional and $2,000 could be taken from the travel budget.

Road Department Superintendent Steve Keller received authorization to hire Mike Helton part-time for summer mowing at $10.38. He will also look into prefab bridges for a possible replacement of worn out bridges. He said steel bridges last about 75 years and cost from $70 to $150 per foot.

In other expenses, the commission approved to pay $2,153 to Applied Geotechnical Engineering for testing of concrete on the new sheriff's complex and $4,152 to Bird Fencing for fence installation at the fairgrounds.